Even if you don't typically watch the Golden Globes, being active on Instagram meant you couldn't escape the flood of posts about a specific color decision on Sunday evening. The night was dominated by black: dresses, tuxedos, and accessories were almost universally coordinated, making the event resemble a monochrome gala rather than the usual vibrant spectacle. What captivated me wasn't the visual choice itself, but the reasoning behind it.
That "why" is the #TimesUp initiative, launched by more than 300 women from film, television, and theater. It goes beyond a mere show of unity—it's a concrete effort to raise money and provide legal assistance to women who have suffered in silence from discrimination and harassment. For the first time, we see a movement with real financial backing: the Time's Up Now fund is collecting resources to support legal fees for those who have faced workplace sexual misconduct or retaliation. Notable signatories include America Ferrera, Ashley Judd, Anne Hathaway, Eva Longoria, Shonda Rhimes, Natalie Portman, and Reese Witherspoon.
Thus, on a night typically adorned with the season's boldest hues and patterns, these women and their male colleagues set aside current fashion trends to embrace the most sophisticated shade: black. In the days before the event, I followed tweets and posts from stylists like Ilaria Urbinati and celebrities such as Blake Lively and Tracee Ellis Ross as they revealed their commitment to the dress code, and I started reflecting on whether this choice was fitting. Black is the little black dress we're all advised to keep in our wardrobe. It's Breakfast at Tiffany's and Sabrina. It embodies elegance, simplicity, and refinement. It doesn't try too hard; it holds its own. Yet black also signifies mourning—it's worn at shiva and funerals. It's gothic and nocturnal. Black is a sigh, the close of day when we wonder if morning will come.
The last twelve months have started imparting lessons that I'm not sure we can fully summarize yet. They involve voices lifting, women coming together, and demanding more. They involve enduring and breaking through, as well as men being welcomed to stand beside us as we wait for that dawn to break. They involve reimagining the future and the environment we occupy, pushing aside cultural conventions that deep down we truly detest. Pain and hardship have educated us, but so have hope and solidarity.
We—those of us not in the acting profession—have developed swinging expectations of filmmakers and performers. On one hand, we dismiss their intellect out of our own insecurity, viewing them as mere puppets reciting others' words. On the other, we place them on a pedestal, demanding near-divine wisdom and insight. But last night, Hollywood's women and men revealed their true nature: they are simply human. They try. They work. They live and care. They are imperfect and mostly not politicians, yet they used the Golden Globes to demonstrate that their world extends beyond sets and cameras. They are part of this community, and they raised their voices. I feel genuine pride in what happened yesterday—the decision by everyone from stylists to nominees to wear black was perhaps the most elegant gesture Hollywood has ever made, or ever could.
Feature Image via Candace Nelson
